We’re not quite in the same place with this Bill yet. There are doubts, and we shouldn’t ignore those, in terms of why we are doing this, how effective this will be, and we don’t have the full evidence yet. But the evidence is strong that using financial incentives—that is, changing the price of drinks—does affect how much people drink, and I support that as a matter of principle, and it has been part of the Plaid Cymru manifesto for some years.

Taxation is what we’d choose to use, as I’ve said before, but we don’t have the powers. I hope that we will have the powers someday, but, in the absence of that, setting a minimum unit price is an option that is available to us. So, after succeeding in strengthening the original Bill in several ways in its passage through the Assembly, we will vote in favour of this Bill today becoming an Act. We have strengthened it in many ways by influencing the scrutiny that there will be of this Act by the Assembly to evaluate its effectiveness. 

It is vital now that the Government brings very clear evidence to us about the appropriate level of the minimum price, and I do regret that the rushed passage of this Bill has failed to allow the kind of scrutiny that I would like to have seen on that price, but there will be another opportunity, through regulations, for us to be able to look again at that evidence, and measuring and evaluation will be vital in order for us to take the people of Wales with us on this journey. We’ve also insisted that, on the face of the Bill, there is a commitment to teach people about why this legislation can be a part of the suite of tools that we have to help public health.

There is a weakness here in the legislation, and I do regret again that the Government has failed to support that, in terms of looking at how we prevent profiting from this Act, as retailers have to sell alcohol for higher prices. We would have liked to have seen something in legislation that would have ensured that money came in the wake of this legislation to be spent on tackling misuse of alcohol and providing treatment for those who do misuse alcohol and those who drink to excess. We will have to look now at a voluntary levy, but I do think that an opportunity has been missed here. Certainly, I, in future, as we scrutinise and look for ways to strengthen this, will be looking for ways to ensure that there isn’t any profiteering from this.

We’ve heard several times concerns that people on lower incomes will be disproportionately affected, and I’ve thought a lot about this. Of course, it is a scandal that people on lower incomes are more likely to suffer disease or illness because of alcohol misuse: it is an example of social injustice and inequality of opportunity, and we have to tackle these issues through a broad range of policy measures. But what about the impact on people who drink to excess now, and the concerns that moderate drinkers on low incomes will suffer unfairly because of the financial cost? I hope that through the programme of education alongside this legislation more and more people over time will see that it will be possible to adapt their drinking habits in a way that will mean that there won’t be a financial penalty. I hope that industry will respond by reducing alcohol content, for example. People can drink drinks with a lower alcohol content or drink less. Because there is a message now, through this piece of legislation, that we can’t consider alcohol as something benign. 

Above all, let’s see this as a measure for our children. I hope that this legislation will be a tool that can lead to fewer young people in Wales starting to drink to excess, in the way that tougher regulations in the area of smoking has led to a reduction in the number of young smokers. The health of the people of Wales hangs in the balance here.